HUMAN ACTS Introduction

Human persons – intelligent and free │ - capable of determining our own lives by our own free choices │ HOW? │ - by freely choosing to shape our lives and actions in accord with the truth → by making good moral choices - These choices performed as free persons are called HUMAN ACTS DEFINITION OF HUMAN ACTS  Acts which man does as man = acts proper to man as man  Acts of which he is properly master = because he does them with full knowledge and of his own will = actions performed by man knowingly and freely = will → properly enlightened by knowledge → supplied by the intellect  Therefore, Human acts are those acts which proceed from a deliberate freewill HUMAN ACTS – THE CONCERN OF MORALITY  only human acts are moral acts = it is only with human acts that man is responsible for his actions REASON AND FREEDOM – makes man a moral subject REASON - Human acts are either in agreement or in disagreement with the dictates of reason dictates of reason - shared consciousness of prudent people about the manner of action or behavior - Norm of morality which is the standard by which actions are judged as good or evil │ = good --- in harmony with reason = evil --- opposed to reason = indifferent --- neutral FREEDOM - makes man a moral subject - when man acts in deliberate manner --- he is the father of his acts - man is thus responsible for those acts --- he can acknowledge that he has done them because he wanted to --- and he can explain why he decided to do them = those acts can be morally classified – they are either good or evil INTELLECT AND WILL IN HUMAN ACTS - intellect and the will are not 2 successive acts but 2 elements of human acts - it is not that the intellect that knows and the will that decides but man who both know and decides through simultaneous use of the 2 faculties - will – directs the intellect to know - intellect – directs the will to want the object it proposes WILL - the only object which necessarily attracts the will --- ABSOLUTE GOOD perfectly known as such - Partial goods or God imperfectly known – will not necessarily attract the will WILL – naturally inclined to the good – but man may sometimes deliberately choose something morally evil, how come? - In this case, the will chooses a partially good that the will itself has commanded the intellect to present as such = how did it happen? │ = the will has a fixed inclination to the good – the will can only choose something bad when it is presented under its good aspects = it is due to the disordered disposition of the will with respect to its last end, and the means leading to it = there lies the culpability of the choice ACTS OF MAN - those acts which man performs without being master of them through his intellect and will = therefore, they are not voluntary EXAMPLES OF ACTS OF MAN  The natural acts of vegetative and sense faculties - digestion, beating of heart, growth, corporal reactions, visual or auditive perceptions. - but these acts may become human acts when they are performed with malice, or when we are directed by the will, when we look at something or arouse ourselves  Acts of persons without the proper use of reason – children or insane persons  Acts of people asleep or under the influence of hypnosis, alcohol or other drugs. - however, there may still be some degree of control by the will - but there is indirect responsibility if the cause of the loss of control is voluntary  Primo-primi acts – quick and nearly automatic reactions – reflex and nearly instantaneous reactions without time for the intellect or will to intervene  Acts performed under serious physical – or in some cases – moral violence